


Tonks

by EpicFail1994



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cute, First Crush, Gen, Marauders' Era, Young Tonks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 08:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4953541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EpicFail1994/pseuds/EpicFail1994
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Nymphadora is bored. Bored and itchy and sulking. She hates her parents parties. She would normally hide in the basement, mummy never finds her there, but Cousin Sirius and his friends from school beat her too it. "</p><p> </p><p>The first time Tonks met her older cousins friend from school - Remus, the boys name was - he made quite a lasting impression.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tonks

Nymphadora is bored. Bored and itchy and sulking. She hates her parents parties. Daddy makes her wear that silly pink dress he likes so much, mummy drinks that horrid red stuff that makes her breath smell funny and her face pink, and everyone else is either older than her and boring or younger than her and annoying.

She would normally hide in the basement, mummy never finds her there, but Cousin Sirius and his friends from school beat her too it and are being mean and won't let her join in with their game. It hadn't looked like much fun anyway. She never had liked card games; they were slow and confusing she always got bored and lost interest halfway through. She wanted to tell on them to daddy that they've taken his bottle of Firewhisky but then Cousin Sirius would probably get her back about that time with the rabbit.

Sitting at the top of the stairs, listening grumpily to the babble of _boring_ conversations about houses and food and some club or group or something that makes her parents faces screw up before they change the subject. Frowning down at her book, Nymphadora considered telling on Cousin Sirius anyway, the meanie; the stairs aren't half so comfy as the sofa down in the basement, and there's more light down there too. "Nymphadora?" the voice is soft, and she looks up. One of Cousin Sirius's friends, she can't remember his name (can't remember anyone's name at this stupid party, they aren't _her_ friends), is standing at the bottom of the stairs, peering up into the gloom of the landing at her.

Nymphadora scowls, turning away with a huff and ignoring him, pretending to be reading her book. Unlike Cousin Sirius, who laughs at her when she does that, the boy smiles a bit, and starts up the stairs.

She watches him out of the corner of her eye, so he won't know she cares, as he climbs towards her. He stops a couple of steps down, and crouches; his knees crack loudly which makes her want to giggle but she was told off last time she laughed at something like that.

"What are you reading?" the boy asks, tilting his head to one side to read the title. Silently, Nymphadora lifts the paperback, letting him see the worn cover. " _The Worst Witch_ " he scans, "I don't think I've read that one" he smiles - a small, kind smile; not like Cousin Sirius’s. He never _really_ smiles, the closest he gets is smirking – like when she tripped over the corner of the rug for the eight time and broke mummy's favourite vase (even if he did fix it for her before mummy found out).

"It's a muggle book, you wouldn't like it" Nymphadora sniffs haughtily, clutching the much-loved book to her stomach, watching the boy warily.

"No? What's it about?" he asks, sitting down and leaning back against the wall of the stairs. Their heads are at the same height like this, and Nymphadora wonders why he's here.

 "Why?" she demands, sulkily.

"Because I like books" he replies, and his brown eyes look kind, and so Nymphadora's hold loosens slightly; after all, all the people she knows who like books are nicer than the ones who don't.

"I-it's about a school. A magic school but one some muggle lady made up, and this clumsy witch called Mildred who's always getting into trouble because her spells go wrong" she tells him, and he nods, and she continues. "A-and she has a kitten, and three bats, but she can't fly a broom because she's always falling off".

"Sounds a bit like me. I'm terrible at flying" the boy admits, smiling at her. It's a nice smile and Nymphadora feels her cheeks prickle with warmth. Weird. She's glad, suddenly, for the dark up here, even if it does make it hard to read. She buries her face in her knees, just in case, and peeks up at the boy from under her fringe. "Me too" she mumbles, shy now and not entirely sure why.

"Mummy took me on her broom once, when daddy wasn't home. I got sick, and my eyes turned a funny colour and wouldn't turn back for hours" Nymphadora admits back, embarrassed by the confession and she doesn't know why she told him and she braces herself for the teasing that's bound to come. But then he laughs; not like Cousin Sirius laughs, though, or even like the children at school laugh. He doesn’t laugh _at_ her; _he_ laughs like he _understands_. Her cheeks prickle some more.

"Oh, Padf- Sirius told me about this! It's called "metamorphism" isn't it? It sounds fantastic" he asks, watching her and she nods eagerly, smiling.

"Do... do you want to see?" she whispers, leaning in close like it's a secret. The boy replies that he would, and she holds her breath and a second later her mouth stretches into a beak, and then a pigs snout, and his eyebrows go up, startled, even as he grins at her.

"Wow! Wish I could do that, it's very clever. Well done!" he praises her, and she wants to tell him that it's not clever _really_ , it's just something she can do, but she likes the way he's smiling at her and likes that she impressed him so she doesn't say anything. "If I could do it, I'd change my hair colour, make it look less like an old mop" he jokes, and she knows he's joking because he doesn't look anything like an old mop. At least, not like any mop that she's ever seen; she thinks they must have much nicer mops at Hogwarts than mummy does.

"What colour hair would you have?" she asks, curious. The boy frowns, looking thoughtful, before looking back at her and saying with absolute seriousness;

"Bright pink" Nymphadora laughs, and when her hair goes pink to match her cheeks, so does the boy. "It suits you, Nymphadora" he tells her, still chuckling, and she sighs, mood dipping again.

"Wish I could change my name too" she mutters, looking away and scowling.

"What's wrong with Nymphadora?" the boy asks. "It's different. Unique... quite like you, actually" he adds after a pause.

"What does unique mean?"

"Different. Fun. Being the only one of its kind, and unlike anything else" he says, and he sounds like a dictionary, and the thought makes her giggle inside.

"It's too long" she complains, and though she does rather like the idea of being one of a kind she still doesn't like her name.

"Long and weird and _clumsy_ " it goes without saying that she's clumsy enough without a stupid, dumb name like _Nymphadora_.

"And 'Sirius Black' isn't weird?" the boy asks, and she giggles, glad that he seems on her side about Cousin Sirius – even if he's just pretending. "We'll just have to think up a nickname for you" he suggests, and she perks up. "Dora maybe? Dora Tonks?" she shakes her head and he sighs. "We might have to do some thinking then" he tells her. "Until then you shall just be a nameless Tonks-"

"Remus? Oi, where'd you get to, you sod? Remus!" the boy is cut off by a shout, a very familiar sounding shout, from a very familiar looking cousin. Remus. The boy’s name is Remus.

"Sirius, language!" _Remus_ scolds, standing and Nymphadora's heart sinks as she realizes he's going to leave now. Cousin Sirius, looking up from the bottom step, rolls his eyes, ignoring her completely as he steals her new friend away.

"Come on, Peter’s finally managed to explain the rules to Pro- um, James. Let’s get started already"

"Since when do you lot ever follow rules?” Remus asks, sounding amused.

"Since it's the only way you'll actually join in, now come _on_ " Cousin Sirius urges, impatient and Remus rolls his eyes, looking away from her cousin and back at her instead as he makes his way down the stairs.

"It was nice talking to you. Let me know what happens with Mildred?" he asks, ignoring the questioning look Cousin Sirius gives him. "I'll see you later, just-Tonks!" he calls, sending her one last grin over his shoulder before he is snatched off. As they walk away she can hear their voices over the noise of the kitchen.

"What was that about? Why'd you call her "Tonks"? Oi, don't ignore me, you arse. Moony!"

“Ssh! "Remus", remember, you idiot! Or do you _want_ Andromida to figure us out?”

“Oh, shut up, lover boy”

“Eh?”

The basement door closes, and the little girl at the top of the stairs smiles to herself, cheeks red, and decides she does like her parent’s parties after all. The next day at school, she walks in with bright pink hair, and when the children laugh she pulls her pig-face at them and insist everyone call her Tonks. Just Tonks.


End file.
